9 All-Star Appearances
4 Defensive Player of the Year Awards
1 Coach of the Year Award
1 6th Man of the Year Award
4 2nd Team All NBA selections (does not include 2007)
2 3rd Team All NBA selections (does not include 2007)
1 2nd Team Rookie selection (does not include 2007)
5 1st Team Defense selections (does not include 2007)
5 2nd Team Defense selections (does not include 2007)

It means we start each year thinking we will be contenders. It adds excitement and meaning to the season. Even if we are struggling part way through we know Dumars could be ready to pull a Rasheed or Webber and make us a better team by the trade deadline.

Surprisingly though it does leave us plenty of things to complain about.

9 All-Star Appearances
4 Defensive Player of the Year Awards
1 Coach of the Year Award
1 6th Man of the Year Award
4 2nd Team All NBA selections (does not include 2007)
2 3rd Team All NBA selections (does not include 2007)
1 2nd Team Rookie selection (does not include 2007)
5 1st Team Defense selections (does not include 2007)
5 2nd Team Defense selections (does not include 2007)

I'm a big fan of Maslow. However my ascent has stalled due to lack of love.

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Jung at a different approach:

I had to abandon the idea of the superordinate position of the ego. ... I saw that everything, all paths I had been following, all steps I had taken, were leading back to a single point -- namely, to the mid-point. It became increasingly plain to me that the mandala is the centre. It is the exponent of all paths. It is the path to the centre, to individuation.
... I knew that in finding the mandala as an expression of the self I had attained what was for me the ultimate. - C. G. Jung. Memories, Dreams, Reflections.

Yeah, and a lot of people in my homeland struggle for basic human necessities. Doesn't stop me from lusting after a new HDTV.

I think that's called Maslow's hierarchy of needs, except in this case it's a very short pyramid: there's the winner and all of the losers.

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Life is not a zero-sum game.

“Man is only a reed, the fullest reed in nature, but he is a thinking reed…were the universe to crush him, man would still be more noble than that which slays him, because he knows that he dies, and the advantage the universe has over him; of this the universe knows nothing.”

Its great to me. You are complaining about that important 1% that separates a champion from an also ran. Its not like we think the team sucks...we also know that the window is only open for a short time.

I am very proud to be Piston Fan. The fact that over the past 6 years we have been a contender to win an NBA title. We have contribtued to a new style of play that has emphasized playing the right way, being a good teammate, and winning by any means. Everywhere I go I let it be known that I am a devout Pistons fan and will be one for the rest of my life. I argue anyone in defense of our success of this franchise and that is no easy task here in South Florida. Joe D. single handedly took us from a has-been franchise to that of one is being mimiced by other franchises, i.e. Chicago. I really hope that we can make a last run at this thing and add another ring to our eternal NBA bragging rights.

9 All-Star Appearances
4 Defensive Player of the Year Awards
1 Coach of the Year Award
1 6th Man of the Year Award
4 2nd Team All NBA selections (does not include 2007)
2 3rd Team All NBA selections (does not include 2007)
1 2nd Team Rookie selection (does not include 2007)
5 1st Team Defense selections (does not include 2007)
5 2nd Team Defense selections (does not include 2007)

What does it mean to you?

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Also forgot to mention
1 Executive of the Year in 2003
1 Hall of Famer inducted in 2006 ( 2 if you count Earl Lloyd in 2003)
NBA overall attendence leader 2003-2007 (home and road)
130 consecutive home sell outs dating back to the end of the 2003-2004 season.

What all this means to me is that as much as we criticize Joe for his draft choices, trades, coaching selections and hands off approach to controlling his coaches mid season, he has kept the Piston Fan excited, interested, full of hope, over confident, and arrogant about the Pistons chances of winning it all and staying competitive and forgetting the down and out years of 1997 thru 2001 aka teal

All the success has made me feel like I'm on a perpetually perfect red-wine buzz. Toast to Joe D, the man who made it all happen.

About Joe. I've often felt that as long as he is in the driver's seat, this franchise will remain near the top. His intelligence and foresight has the ability to keep us from riding the up and down roller-coaster that sports franchises go through. If he's GM for 20 more years, we may pick up another 3-4 titles, and remain competetive through-out. But the question is, will he be the GM for 20 years? There's some part of me that wants him to move on to a higher calling. Translate those skills into something even more beneficial to mankind. Could he be the next mayor of Detroit? Followed by Senator Dumars from Michigan, then... While he's not a tremendously well-spoken individual, he is a hell of a manager and is almost universally respected. Does he have the charisma to make things happen in politics? I guess he could easily translate his skills into business to make himself even more rich, but I hope he doesn't go there.

Really, do you think that the particualr skills he has could lead him to be the first NBA player to really make a difference in the world? I'm sure there are some others (BBradley comes to mind) but the list is short.